In an environment riddled with slashed budgets, new classes can be hard to come by.
But the culture/isssues committee — a subset of the Carolina Scholars Program at UNC — is helping to keep honors students’ schedules diverse by allotting part of the honors program budget to create a new course each fall.
This fall, with the creation of HNRS 356, “Art and Social Change,” students will have the opportunity to broaden their understanding of art and its impact on social change on an interactive scale.
The committee created the class in order to demonstrate to students that art often precedes major social changes and revolutions.
“It seems that the arts kind of have the freedom to say a lot of things that you can’t say as a politician, or the president of a company,” said junior Amanda Ziesemer, a student on the committee board.
The topics chosen by the student board are broad, with ideas ranging from literature to Spanish movies, espionage to propaganda, Ziesemer said.
The course was created with the hope that students would be able to actively participate in linking art to social revolutions, said Jennifer Orr, business services coordinator for the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid and faculty supervisor for the committee.
Students will be required to see at least six performances and participate in workshops with visiting artists.
Through this more personal approach, students will then participate in class discussion and write essays to explore the connection between art and social change.
